hou!

Two miles before we reached our temporary destination, Meacham's
Station, my own strength utterly failed. I had borne up so long, partly
to set an example of cheerful endurance, and partly from something like
Mark Tapley's pride at coming out strong and jolly under the most
depressing circumstances. I lay beside the road, remarking to Captain
Haslett, who immediately came riding to the spot, "Captain, here's a
fine chance to try your marksmanship; I can't march any further; shan't
try to."--"Colonel," he replied with something of pity in his tone and
manner, "I'm sorry to see you so used up. I'm sorry to be obliged to
march you prisoners so hard. I have to keep out of the way of your
damned cavalry. You may get into the ambulance." So into the ambulance I
climbed with some difficulty, and immediately commenced my freemasonry
on the driver. He responded to the signs. He proved to be an
acquaintance of the Redwoods, a family in Mobile, one of whom had been a
classmate of mine at Yale. He gave me some nice milk and some fine wheat
bread. "As a Mason," said he, "I'll feed you; share the last crumb with
you; but as a Confederate soldier I'll fight you till the last drop of
blood and the last ditch."--"I hardly know which to admire most, your
spunk or your milk," I replied. Thereupon he gave me another drink, and
insisted on my imbibing a little of what he called "apple-jack." I was a
"teetotaler"; but thinking the occasion warranted, I "smiled" upon it,
"strictly as a medicine!" "Apple-jack" seemed to me the same thing as
"Jersey lightning." He became quite friendly, but was horribly profane.
"Look here," said he, "you seem to be a sort of Christian; cuss me if
you don't! What in h--l are you Yanks all comin' down here for?"--"You
have a gift at swearing," I said; "did you, among your other oaths, ever
swear to support the Constitution of the United States?"--"Well,
yes."--"That's what's the matter with us," I said, "we're keeping our
oaths and you are breaking yours."--"To h--l with the Constitution of
the United States! Our first duty is to our own State. We've a right to
be an independent nation, and we will. I'm a guerrilla. If our armies
are defeated, I'll fight you on my own hook. I'll fire on you from
behind every tree and every rock. I'll assassinate every invader. I want
you to remember that I'm a guerrilla."--"I like your _spirits_," I said.
"They are worthy of a better cause."--"Take another swallow of 'em,"