in the new organisation. They had
gone through a great deal of hardship and
danger, and were now indulging recklessly
in the ease of their forced idleness. The
everlasting Southern whisky was always
to be procured, despite the most stringent
orders, and every room in the hotel had
its accumulation of empty bottles and all
kinds of drinking-cups, from the tin pannikin
to the broken tumbler. Most of these
young men were planters, or sons of
planters; and though the currency of the
Confederacy was depreciated, they had
piles of notes at their command. They
had escaped the dangers of yesterday, and,
caring nothing for the terrors of to-morrow,
filled up the interval with riotous debauch
and gambling for the highest stakes. Far
into the night, under the dim glare of the
most disreputable of tallow dips, stuck into
the necks of bottles for lack of candlesticks,
the rough and soiled bed serving for a table,
they would continue their games of hazard.

One night, tossing feverishly on my
matted mattress, I was praying for either
sleep or daylight, when a sudden commotion
brought me to my feet. What smell
was that? I rushed to the window, and,
looking out, saw a red glare glowing upon
dark clouds of smoke which were issuing
from the upper stories. The hotel was on
fire!

With a coolness for which I should never
have given myself credit, I set to work
collecting my scattered effects, and then,
laden with my goods, I struggled down the
crowded staircase. It was astonishing with
what rapidity the flames spread, for scarcely
had I effected my escape, when, glancing up
to my late quarters, I beheld the fire pouring
forth from the casement. At this moment,
in the burning framework of a window in
the uppermost story, the figure of a man
appeared. We knew that all escape was cut
off by the staircase, and expected every
moment, as he stood like Solomon Eagle in
the fringe of fire, that he would fall back
stifled, and be engulfed in the red-hot ruins.
Some soldiers belonging to a Kentucky
regiment, who had been members of the
fire-brigade of their town, forced their way
through the crowd. A blanket was
procured, and a score of men, gripping it
at the margin, stretched it out tightly at
the level of their chins. Then with
encouraging shouts they called upon the
apparently doomed wretch to leap fearlessly
from his perch on the sixth story. Casting
a terrified glance behind him, and then
extending his arms wildly as though in
supplication, he covered his eyes with his
hands, and sprang into the air. So nicely
had his fall been judged that he was
received into the extended blanket, which, as
he touched it, was by the judicious bearers
carefully allowed to give, and the fall being
broken, the rescued man was deposited
unhurt on the ground, amidst the cheers of
the spectators.

Our head-quarters were removed to a
farm-house in the suburbs of the town,
whilst the men were camped in the grassy
bottoms of the Pearl River. Every afternoon
I took a ride into the magnificent
magnolia forests in the neighbourhood, to
seek refuge from the scorching sun in the
shade of the overspreading foliage which
fringed the banks of the limpid "Pearl," so
called from the wonderful clearness of its
waters, which, unlike most of the turbid
torrents of the South, floated their silvery
course over a bed of shining pebble. At this
time of the year the magnolia-trees were in
full bloom, the pale-tinted flowers and the
rich green gelatinous leaves looking as
though they had been modelled in wax.
Thick curtains of wild-vine hung like
drop-scenes from giant trees, every variety of
tint and tone in their leaf and flower. There
were arcades of creeping plants that had
thrown their cordage from bough to bough,
and trunk to trunk, forming a vaulted roof
of verdure, that seemed as though the
hand of man had carefully trained the
growth—avenues that looked as though
they led to fairyland.

Vicksburg was so thoroughly surrounded
by the enemy, both on its land and water
approaches, that it was with the greatest
possible difficulty that General Johnston could
communicate with the garrison. The most
experienced scouts in the South had been
ordered to report to him, and by their aid
he was enabled on more than one occasion
to pierce the enemy's lines, and establish
communications with the beleaguered city.
One of these scouts was ordered to carry
despatches, and, what was of the utmost
consequence, several thousands of
percussion-caps to Vicksburg, the garrison being
nearly at a standstill for want of a fresh
supply of detonating mercury. He
successfully executed his mission, bringing
back a letter from General Pemberton.
The way in which he accomplished his
task will give some notion of the perils of
the enterprise. He moved stealthily across
the country through forest and swamp to
a point on the Mississippi river, some twelve
miles above Vicksburg; but to achieve this