CHAPTER XXI.
A DIFFICULTY WITH BUTLER. ESCAPE FROM NEW ORLEANS.
Butler's Rule in New Orleans. A System of Terrorism. My Acquaintance with Federal Officers. I resume the Business of carrying Information through the Lines. A Trip to Robertson's Plantation for the Purpose of carrying a Confederate Despatch. A long Tramp after Night. Some of the Incidents of my Journey. The Alligators and Mosquitoes. Arrival at my Destination, and Delivery of the Despatch to a Confederate Officer. My hospitable Entertainment by Friends of the Confederacy. My Return to New Orleans. Capture of the Bearer of my Despatch, and my Arrest. I am taken before Butler, who endeavors to extort a Confession from me. Butler as a Bully. I refuse to confess, and am ordered to be imprisoned in the Custom- House. My Release, through the Intercession of the British Consul. I resolve to leave New Orleans, for fear of getting into further Trouble. A Bargain with a Fisherman to take me across Lake Pontchartrain. My Escape from Butler's Jurisdiction.
WAS astonished, sometimes, at my own good luck in keeping clear of controversies with the military authorities; for Butler was bent on crushing out every indication of sympathy with the Confederacy, and he was most savage and
relentless in his punishment of those who defied his mandates by attempting to hold communication with the Southern soldiery, who were only waiting for a proper opportunity to rescue New Orleans, and who were therefore anxious, of course, to understand exactly how matters stood in the city, in order that they might take advantage of a suitable moment, if any should present, for relieving its unpopular ruler of his responsibilities. The peculiar situation of New Orleans, on a narrow strip of land between the river and Lake Pontchartrain, and with numerous bayous, lakes, and other water ways in close proximity, was such as to make the passage back and forth of Confederate agents a much easier matter than it would have been under some circumstances. It was. however, a danger-
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