I realized fully what the parting was to him. He had accepted me as Salome, without doubt or question, and to leave me with no other protector than Ned tried him sorely. I leaned out of the buggy and looked back after him, with a feeling of pain that surprised me. As he disappeared, a presentment that I should never see him again crept over me, followed by an idle speculation whether it was he or I who was first to meet our fate, a feeling which I remembered well a few months later, when I received the news that Captain DeLacy had been shot in battle. CHAPTER XIII. Shaking off the dim sense of foreboding, I gave my thoughts entirely to the task before me. I had decided to make my way down the side of the river I was then on. From what I had learned of the position of the enemy, I knew the risk would be no greater than if I crossed to the opposite shore, and I hoped to save many weary miles of travel. Being well aware of the extreme caution shown on our side, I thought the chances were that our army would be yet in the neighborhood of the place where I left them, and I aimed for that point. I told Ned that I had secured a paper of the utmost importance, and that if I were shot and he escaped, he was to take the paper from its place of concealment and carry it on. We turned to the left, down the first road we came to, after parting with Captain DeLacy and his men. Just before we reached it, we were stopped by a small party of Confederates on horseback. I offered my passes. Striking a match, an officer read them, and after a few questions, allowed us to go on. That was the only time the passes were of use to us, for as soon as I parted with my disguise they were, of course, worthless. In order to make the best time possible, and avail ourselves of short cuts and bridle paths, it was necessary to leave the buggy and return to horseback. That we did at the earliest practical moment. As soon as we came to a rough bit of road, after our first turn, Ned drove the buggy to one side, and, knocking off a wheel, left it to its fate. When I was again in my own clothes, we made the harness and my disguise into several bundles, which Ned weighted and dropped into the first creek we came to. That done, we hurried on. The night had turned cloudy and dark while we had been in the Confederate camp. It did not rain, but before long we struck a place where it had very recently, and our horses for a short distance were obliged to plough through slippery clay. Frequently we would see the fires of some outpost, and often a picket shot, sometimes startlingly near, would ring out on the murky night. Well as I knew the country, I finally made a false turn in the confusing darkness, and approached the river when I thought we were still several miles away from it and following its course.