olness; "but
why are all these people here?"

"Thar's a barbacue cumin' off to-morrer on the camp-ground, and the
house is cram full."

"Is that so?" said the Colonel, then turning to me he added, "Moye has
taken the railroad somewhere else; I must get to a telegraph office at
once, to head him off. The nearest one is Wilmington. With all these
rowdies here, it will not do to leave the horses alone--will you stay
and keep an eye on them over to-morrow?"

"Yes, I will, cheerfully."

"Thar's a mighty hard set, round har now, Cunnel," said the landlord;
"and the most peaceable get enter scrapes ef they hain't no friends.
Hadn't ye better show the gentleman some of your'n, 'fore you go?"

"Yes, yes, I didn't think of that. Who is here?"

"Wal, thar's Cunnel Taylor, Bill Barnes, Sam Heddleson, Jo Shackelford,
Andy Jones, Rob Brown, and lots of others."

"Where's Andy Jones?"

"Reckon he's turned in; I'll see."

As the landlord opened a door which led from the hall, the Colonel said
to me, "Andy is a Union man; but he'd fight to the death for me."

"Sal!" called out the hotel keeper.

"Yas, massa, I'se har," was the answer from a slatternly woman, awfully
black in the face, who soon thrust her head from the door-way.

"Is Andy Jones har?" asked Miles.

"Yas, massa, he'm turned in up thar on de table."

We followed the landlord into the apartment. It was the dining-room of
the hotel, and by the dim light which came from a smoky fire on the
hearth, I saw it contained about a hundred people, who, wrapped in
blankets, bed-quilts and travelling-shawls, were disposed in all
conceivable attitudes, and scattered about on the hard floor and tables,
sleeping soundly. The room was a long, low apartment--extending across
the entire front of the house--and had a wretched, squalid look. The
fire, which was tended by the negro-woman--(she had spread a blanket on
the floor, and was keeping a drowsy watch over it for the night)--had
been recently replenished with green wood, and was throwing out thick
volumes of black smoke, which, mixing with the effluvia from the lungs
of a hundred sleepers, made up an atmosphere next to impossible to
breathe. Not a window was open, and not an aperture for ventilation
could be seen!

Carefully avoiding the arms and legs of the recumbent chivalry, we
picked our way, guided by the negro-girl, to the corner of the room
where the Unionist was sleeping. Shaking him briskly by the shoulder,
th