ded not to set off
immediately, he resolved to leave him in bed to sleep off his debauch.

But what had become of the German and the fat Irishman? was the
question. The men belonging to the hut were all away, so we had to go in
search of one of them, to learn if he could give any account of the
truants. The negro, who went by no other name than Sam or Black Sam, was
the first we met. Sam averred, on his honour as a gentleman, that when
he left the hut in the morning they were all sleeping as quietly as
lambs; and he concluded that they had gone out to take a bath in the
stream, or a draught of cool water at the spring. The latter the
lieutenant thought most probable, if they had been indulging in
potations of whisky on the previous evening; as to bathing, none of them
were likely to go and indulge in such a luxury.

To Cold-Water Spring we went; but they were not to be seen, nor could
the other men give any account of them.

The lieutenant burst into a fit of laughter, not unmixed with vexation.

"A pretty set of troops I have to command--my sergeant sick, one drunk,
and two missing."

"Probably Klitz and Gillooly have only taken a ramble, and will soon be
back," I observed; "and by that time the other fellow will have
recovered from his tipsy fit; so it is of no use to be vexed. You should
be more anxious about Sergeant Custis, for I fear he will not be able to
accompany you for several days to come."

On going back to the house, we found the sergeant no better. Rachel,
indeed, said that he was in a raging fever, and that he must have
suffered from a sunstroke, or something of that sort.

The lieutenant was now almost in despair; and though the dispatches he
carried were not of vital importance, yet they ought, he said, to be
delivered as soon as possible, and he had already delayed two days. As
there was no help for it, however, and he could not at all events set
out until his men came back, I invited him to take a fishing-rod and
accompany me to a part of the stream where, although he might not catch
many fish, he would at all events enjoy the scenery.

It was a wild place; the rocks rose to a sheer height of two or three
hundred feet above our heads, broken into a variety of fantastic forms.
In one place there was a cleft in the rock, out of which the water
flowed into the main stream. The lieutenant, who was fond of fishing,
was soon absorbed in the sport, and, as I expected, forgot his troubles
about his