man was as innocent and as unsuspicious as a new-born babe, and I could scarcely keep from laughing sometimes at the eagerness he displayed in telling me all manner of things that, had he been possessed of ordinary common sense, he would never have revealed to any one, much less to a total stranger, with regard to whose antecedents he knew absolutely nothing.
Some of the information thus obtained I knew would be of vital importance to the Confederates, could it be conveyed to them immediately. I therefore made my arrangement, and that night slipped through the Federal lines, and told all that I had to tell to one of Mosby's pickets. With that extraordinary good luck which so often attends bold adventures, I succeeded in getting back without being observed or suspected, and my escort of the morning was never the wiser by the knowledge that his silly talkativeness had produced such good results for the Confederacy.
I remained about a week in Martinsburg, and enjoyed myself immensely. Not only my friend, the quartermaster, but a number of other officers paid me very marked attentions, and I was soon quite a rival to the belles of the place. I did not have another opportunity to communicate with the Confederate forces; but this week was not an idle one, nevertheless, and by the time it was ended, I was in possession of a large number of facts that were well worth knowing. While still undecided whether to push on farther or not, I received some intelligence which induced me to think it better to return.
When I announced that I was about to depart, my friends, the officers, expressed the greatest regret. The quartermaster said, "We shall miss you greatly; you have made yourself so agreeable since you have been here, that we shall scarcely know what to do without you."
I said that I was sorry to go, but that my family was anxious for my return; and as I bade the quartermaster good-by, I declared that I had half a mind to turn detective, for the purpose of catching the rebel who killed Dick. The quarter master insisted that I should write to him when I got home; and on his stating that he had a notion to come and see me when the war was over, I gave him a pressing invitation to do so, thinking that he would have a good time in finding me.
But when I got back to Chattanooga, I had some trouble in making any farther progress; but by representing myself as a
