[CHAPTER XLIV.]
Pray you tread softly, that the blind mole may not
Hear a foot-fall!
Tempest.
There's but a shirt and a half in all my company, and the half shirt is two napkins pinned together and thrown over the shoulders.
King Henry IV.
Our emaciated condition, hard labor, and the bracing mountain air, conspired to make us ravenous. In quantity, the pork and corn-bread which we devoured was almost miraculous; in quality, it seemed like the nectar and ambrosia of the immortal gods. It was far better adapted to our necessities than the daintiest luxuries of civilization. In California, Australia, and Colorado goldmines, on the New Orleans levée, and wherever else the most trying physical labor is to be performed, pork and corn-bread have been found the best articles of food.
The Loyalists were all ready to feed, shelter, and direct us, but reluctant to accompany us far from their homes. They would say:
"You need no guides; the road is so plain, that you cannot possibly miss it."
But midnight journeys among the narrow lanes and obscure mountain-paths had taught us that we could miss any road whatever which was not inclosed upon both sides by fences too high for climbing. Therefore, we insisted upon pilots.