Then there was no supply of fuel along the line.

When the engine ran out of wood it would halt, and a couple of negros riding on the tender would assail a panel of fence or a fallen tree with their axes, and after an hour or such matter of hard chopping, would pile sufficient wood upon the tender to enable us to renew our journey.
Frequently the engine stopped as if from sheer fatigue or inanition.
The Rebel officers tried to get us to assist it up the grade by dismounting and pushing behind.

We respectfully, but firmly, declined.
We were gentlemen of leisure, we said, and decidedly averse to manual labor; we had been invited on this excursion by Mr.Jeff.Davis and his friends, who set themselves up as our entertainers, and it would be a gross breach of hospitality to reflect upon our hosts by working our passage.

If this was insisted upon, we should certainly not visit them again.

Besides, it made no difference to us whether the train got along or not.