and it
was quite a help, to me especially.

The teams were so heavily loaded that I could not ride much, but on down
grades and at the different fords we came to, he asked me to get on and
rest up a little, which offer I gladly accepted, crossing the Chatuga
river on the back of one of the mules. Dr. Washburn had a Columbia paper,
which gave the particulars of Sheridan's famous fight with Early in the
Valley. When they went into camp the first night, Alban and I went into a
barn near by, and slept until morning. Having travelled until ten o'clock
and forded three streams, we were very tired and slept soundly. The next
day we started on ahead of them, but they overtook us before night; as
they halted early, however, we kept on and were overtaken by a man on
horseback who told us he lived about five miles further on, and if we got
that far, we were welcome to stay over night with him. We found his house
about dark, and he gave us a good supper and a good drink of apple-jack,
which he fished out from under the bed.

Alban would not drink any, and tried by winks and sly nudges, to keep me
from accepting a second invitation, but I didn't take the hint worth a
cent. Mr. King (for that was his name) was running an illicit distillery
near where we first met him.

After we had taken two or three drinks, he became talkative, and I think
my tongue was a little loose. He did not go a cent on the Confederacy, and
thought the whole thing was about gone up; and he didn't care much how
soon it collapsed. If he was in my place, he would not go back into the
Confederate army and I told him that I did not intend to. Before we went
to bed, we were on pretty good terms with one another and the world in
general, with the exception of the Confederate government. He lived near
the bank of the Teroria river, and before breakfast we went down to the
river, and cold as it was that morning, stripped off and took a good bath.
When we went back to the house, he again fished out the demijohn from
under the bed, and we took a good one for an appetizer. Alban was fidgety
and nervous, for fear my tongue would run away with me, but I was as jolly
as a lord, and as wary as a member of Congress.

After a good breakfast, for which he would take no pay, we crossed the
Teroria river and pushed on briskly. I felt just in humor for any
adventure, and one soon presented itself.

We had not gone far when we saw a company of reb cavalry coming towards us
from