ecided to try the ford. First they hitched up ten
mules to one of the heavily loaded baggage-wagons, the teamster cracked
his whip, and in they went. But the quicksand frightened the leaders,
and they lost their courage. Now when a mule loses courage, in the
water, he puts his head down and is done for. The leaders disappeared
entirely, then the next two and finally the whole ten of them were gone,
irrevocably, as I thought. But like a flash, the officers shouted: "Cut
away those mules! Jump in there!" and amid other expletives the men
plunged in, and feeling around under the water cut the poor animals
loose and they began to crawl out on the other bank. I drew a long
breath, for I thought the ten mules were drowned.

The guide picked his way over again to the other side and caught them
up, and then I began to wonder how on earth we should ever get across.

There lay the heavy army wagon, deep mired in the middle of the stream,
and what did I see? Our army chests, floating away down the river. I
cried out: "Oh! do save our chests!" "They're all right, we'll get them
presently," said Jack. It seemed a long time to me, before the soldiers
could get them to the bank, which they did, with the aid of stout ropes.
All our worldly goods were in those chests, and I knew they were soaked
wet and probably ruined; but, after all, what did it matter, in the face
of the serious problem which confronted us?

In the meantime, some of the men had floated the other boxes and trunks
out of the wagon back to the shore, and were busy taking the huge
vehicle apart. Any one who knows the size of an army wagon will realize
that this was hard work, especially as the wagon was mired, and nearly
submerged. But the men worked desperately, and at last succeeded in
getting every part of it back onto the dry land.

Somebody stirred up the camp-fire and put the kettle on, and Mrs. Bailey
and I mixed up a smoking strong hot toddy for those brave fellows, who
were by this time well exhausted. Then they set to work to make a boat,
by drawing a large canvas under the body of the wagon, and fastening
it securely. For this Lieutenant of mine had been a sailor-man and knew
well how to meet emergencies.

One or two of the soldiers had now forded the stream on horseback, and
taken over a heavy rope, which was made fast to our improvised boat.
I was acquainted with all kinds of boats, from a catamaran to a
full-rigged ship, but never a craft like this had