prudent to undeceive them; but, on the contrary,
assumed a highly diplomatic mien, and answered
all questions with the greatest caution, in the
most approved fashion, when replies seemed
difficult.

After a very early breakfast next morning,
I found myself spinning along a good Maryland
turnpike road, still maintaining my
unsought-for dignity in a highly impressive
demeanour which my country might have
been proud of. It was a bright Sunday
morning with hardly a breath of air to
disturb the quiet that hushed both field and
forest. Scarcely a sound was heard but the
quick stepping of the horse and the clatter of
the wheels, Yet that indescribable life which
sings its hymn of tranquil joy around every
wild flower, came tuning in between the
pauses of our conversation. Now and then,
as hill rose or dale opened, we could hear the
chiming bells of the district church proclaiming
the Sabbath, and as we approached nearer the
simple edifice, standing alone in a leafy grove,
we came upon those who, undistracted by the
clamour of war, were on their way to hear the
words of peace. Planters, their wives and
daughters, mounted on well-kept steeds, sped
their way through every bridle-path, while
here and there rode the lesser farmers, who,
retaining the customs of their British ancestors,
rode their sturdy nags with the good wife
seated on pillions behind them.

After travelling at high speed for some
eighteen miles, we arrived at a cross-road, where
stood an attempt at a village, consisting of a
blacksmith's forge and a solitary store, a kind of
"all-sorts" shop, and some half-dozen tumble-
down shanties, beneath whose shady eaves
lounged, in every position of Southern listlessness,
the white bucks of the locality, chewing
sleepily their "swabs" of nicotine. A few
words exchanged between my companion and the
more energetic of this indolent assembly,
sufficed to attract all eyes towards me, and I was
soon invited to alight and requested to name
my liquor.

After allowing a certain time for rest and
digestion, we were once more leaving the ground
behind us at the rate of twelve miles an hour.
By sundown we reached the secret rendezvous
where I was once more to exchange guides.
Had I possessed the lamp of Aladdin, no doors
could have opened more readily to receive me
than did the portals of these Southern mansions.
The adventure was one of sufficient hazard to
deter nervously prudent men from assisting me
in my enterprise, and no small exertion and
personal inconvenience were the penalties of
their friendly labours. Yet everywhere the
warmest welcome awaited me. I had only to
ask, and slaves were commanded to obey me.
Wine and food were produced in profusion.
Every want that I could imagine, every desire
that I could conceive, was immediately gratified.

At the luxurious mansion where I now
passed the night I spent a charming and
unrestricted evening, amidst a family circle that had
hitherto been strangers to me, but whose
cordiality at once placed me on the footing of an
old friend.

At sunrise my host tapped at my chamber
door, bringing with him, like a true Southerner,
a cool tankard, containing an "eye-opener,"
compounded of brandy, bitters, sugar, ice,
and lemon, diluted with champagne. Under
its influence I struggled into my clothes, and
after a hearty breakfast of buckwheat cakes,
butter-cakes, soft bread, corn dodgers, rump-
steaks, spare-rib, and ham and eggs, with
supplement of preserved peaches, cranberry
jam, pickled tomatoes, and ripe persimmon, I
placed myself behind the fast trotter destined to
carry me to my next station.

Almost to my regret, no adventure had
hitherto befallen me to season the monotony of
the road. In two hours we reached the banks
of the Patuxent, a broad river rolling its silver
stream silently onwards in the glaring heat of
the day. Pulling up the buggy in a thick copse,
which served not only as a screen against the sun
but also from observation, my guide commenced
carefully to examine the banks in our
neighbourhood. Extreme caution was necessary,
for we had been warned that a troop of Federal
cavalry had been scouting within a mile or two
of the very spot where we stood.

A few minutes brought us to the foot of a
withered pine tree, rising skywards like the
mast of a ship. It stood close to the water-
side, and from its summit hung a halyard.
My friend drew from his pocket his white
handkerchief, and quickly hoisted a signal to the
"mast-head." After leaving it for a few
minutes fluttering in the breeze, he thrice
"dipped" it, and then once more hoisting it,
we eagerly awaited a response from the opposite
shore.

For hours we lay in anxious expectation,
fearing that those whose office it was to answer
our signal and provide the means of ferrying
us to the opposite bank had either not noticed
our appeal, or that some danger threatened our
movements. Indeed, for miles on either side
of the Patuxent, scouting parties of the
Federals had seized upon and destroyed not
only all boats, but even any arrangement of
planks which in an emergency might prove
serviceable in transferring Southern
sympathisers from one shore to another. The few
boats that had been secreted from the stringent
search of the destroyers were kept hidden in
rushy creeks, or buried in the thick growth of
cane-brakes, and it was only on the most
important occasions, and when the venture was
comparatively free from detection, that these
precious craft were launched upon the stream.

It was not until sunset that, amid the deep
shadows cast on the waters by the trees
overhanging the long watched shore, we, peering
into the thickening mists, beheld some object
gliding towards us. As it emerged from the
gloom into the redder water, a chant came
rippling upon the wavelets that lapped the rich
earth at our feet. Our patience was at length