This proved impracticable.

I wandered many days and nights, rather ill mounted, in search of some kind--any kind--of exit, when one afternoon, quite worn out, I sat by a log heap in a comfortable farmhouse.

It seemed that I was at the end of my tether; I did not know what to do.
Presently there was an arrival--a brisk gentleman right out of Memphis, which I then learned was only ten miles distant--bringing with him a morning paper.

In this I saw appended to various army orders the name of "N.B.

Dana, General Commanding." That set me to thinking.