le General Toombs was in Mobile, General Wheeler called upon the
Evans family and remarked that he thought he had seen General Toombs on
the train. Miss Evans replied that she had heard General Toombs was in
Cuba.

Lieutenant Irvin went to New Orleans and secured from the Spanish Consul
a pass to Cuba for "Major Luther Martin." At Mobile General Toombs took
the boat _Creole_ for New Orleans. He seemed to be nearing the end of
his long journey, but it was on this boat that the dramatic incident
occurred which threatened to change the course of his wanderings at
last. While General Toombs was at supper, he became conscious that one
of the passengers was eying him closely. He said to Lieutenant Irvin:
"Charlie, don't look up now, but there is a man in the doorway who
evidently recognizes me."

"General, probably it is someone who thinks he knows you."

"No," replied Toombs quietly, "that man is a spy."

Lieutenant Irvin asked what should be done. General Toombs told him to
go out and question the man and, if convinced that he was a spy, to
throw him over the stern-rail of the steamer. Lieutenant Irvin got up
and went on deck. The stranger followed him. Irvin walked toward the
rail. The stranger asked him where he was from. He answered "North
Carolina."

"Who is that with you?" he questioned.

"My uncle, Major Martin," said Irvin.

The man then remarked that it looked very much like Robert Toombs. Irvin
answered that the likeness had been noted before, but that he could not
see it.

"Young man," said the stranger, "I don't want to dispute your word, but
that is certainly Toombs. I know him well, and am his friend."

Irvin then gave up the idea of throwing him overboard. Had the brave
young officer not been convinced that the party questioning him was
Colonel M. C. Fulton, a prominent resident of Georgia, he says he would
certainly have pitched him into the Gulf of Mexico.

General Toombs, when informed of the identity of Colonel Fulton, sent
for him to come to his room, and the two men had a long and friendly
conversation.

Arriving at New Orleans General Toombs drove up to the residence of
Colonel Marshal J. Smith. On the 4th of November, 1865, he boarded the
steamship _Alabama_, the first of the Morgan line put on after the war
between New Orleans, Havana, and Liverpool. A tremendous crowd had
gathered at the dock to see the steamer off, and Lieutenant Irvin tried
to persuade General Toombs to go below until