CHAPTER XXIII.
THE END OF THE VOYAGE.
Tom Somers's voyage down the Shenandoah was, in many respects, a type of human life.

He experienced the various reverses, the trials and hardships, which attend all sojourners here below.

He triumphed over all obstacles, and when he had completely outwitted the grayback who had labored so diligently to save him from his impending fate, he was at the zenith of prosperity.

He had vanquished the last impediment, and the lines of the Union army--the haven of peace to him--were only a short distance from the scene of his victory.
Prosperity makes men arrogant and reckless, and I am sorry to say that it had the same effect upon Tom Somers.

If he had been content modestly to enjoy the victory he had achieved, it would have been wiser and safer for him; but when Fortune was kind to him, he mocked her, and she turned against him.
When he had passed out of the reach of the rebel soldier, whose musket had been rendered useless for the time being, Tom believed that he was safe, and that he had fairly escaped from the last peril that menaced him on the voyage.