One pleasant Saturday afternoon a party of young ladies arrived with baskets of refreshments to meet a party of yearlings for a trip to “Cro’ Nest.” As I was the only one of the yearlings not “on punishment” or “in confinement” I met the young ladies, explained the situation and said that the trip would have to be postponed. They replied that as two of the young ladies were to leave for New York on Monday next they were determined to go to Cro’ Nest at once, and that if I would not go that the ladies would go alone. Seeing that they were determined to go I went with them. We climbed to the top of the mountain and had a good view, as Cro’ Nest is near the top of the highest peak around. The mountain is covered with timber, and after leaving the top it was hard to tell just where we would find our way down. Unfortunately, we reached the foot of the mountain at a point on the Hudson where the bank was about vertical, and so high that we had to climb more than half way up again to get down on the other side of that ridge. This consumed so much time that when we reached the Dutchwoman’s it was after 10 o’clock at night. Alfred, the Dutchwoman’s son, was there, and we sent him for Lieutenant K⸺g to take the young ladies to Cold Springs, where some of them lived and the others were visiting. Cold Springs was off cadet limits, hence I could not risk going there, when I knew I had been reported absent from dress parade and from quarters, so I bade the young ladies adieu and reported with as little delay as possible to the cadet officer of the day, who had made search for me and was about to send a detail to hunt for me. Immediately after breakfast the next morning I went to the Dutchwoman’s, saw Alfred and learned that he had found Lieutenant K⸺g in ample time to catch the last ferryboat at 11 p. m., but that the Lieutenant waited to finish a game of billiards he was playing at the officers’ mess,[48] and he arrived with the ladies at the North Landing just in time to see the last ferryboat beyond call. The party then went to the Engineer Barracks, a half mile or more distant, got a large engineer boat, and Lieutenant K⸺g himself rowed the young ladies across the Hudson to Cold Springs, and did not return until after reveille the following Sunday morning. I hastened back to my quarters and worked hard on my gun in preparing my room for inspection (for I was room orderly that week), for I felt that the Lieutenant would be especially careful with me at inspection, and so he was, but he could find nothing to report me for. After inspecting my room he said, “Mr. R⸺d, you had quite an adventure yesterday?” I replied, “Yes, sir.” He then asked: “Did the young ladies get home safely?” and I answered, “You ought to know more about that than I do, sir.” He left the room, banged the door and accepted my explanation for my absence the day before.