"Yes, I will, and I think it is as fine a chance for you to make a little fortune, and do it easy, as you will ever have. What do you say, will you do it?"
"Yes, I will; I am bound to make money out of this war, and I don't care a d—n how I do it."
"That's the understanding then, is it?"
"Yes, and when you get ready to have the cotton out, let me know it, and I'll withdraw the men."
However well I had completed the arrangements, I had no intention of participating in a traffic of that kind on my own responsibility. I relate it merely that the reader may see one of the internal phases of this monstrous rebellion. Others have made money in that way.
The journey from Waterford to Grenada was a painfully lonesome one. Not a human being, save a few citizens at Oxford, were seen to enliven the solitude that prevailed. Scarcely a living being was to be seen, save perhaps, now and then, a poor, old, blind and crippled mule or horse, in the last stages of starvation. Even the feathered songsters of the forest seemed to realize the utter desolation that prevailed, and lent, by their silence and seclusion, to that inexpressible gloom. Scarcely a fence or plantation-house remained to mark the place where happiness and prosperity had once existed. Huge chimney-stacks pointed out where the consuming elements had been, and stood as monuments of retribution that was being meted out to those whose folly had led them to participate in their own fearful destruction. I involuntarily exclaimed, "Surely, the way of the transgressor is hard!"
On my arrival at the rebel lines, near Grenada, I experienced no difficulty in passing, and, without having met with any obstacles after leaving the Federal lines, I found myself once more a sojourner in Grenada. I found about 14,000 troops stationed there, composed of infantry, cavalry and artillery, and considerably improved in appearance since my last visit to the place.
I repaired at once to General Price's head-quarters, and there I found General Wheeler, whom I have mentioned as having met before in the rebel army, at General Van Dorn's head-quarters. I asked General Price for a pass to visit Jackson, and for the privilege of leaving my horse and mule with his head-quarter horses until my return, which was granted. While there, I found out that General Wheeler had just received a permit to visit Jackson, so I proposed to accompany him, to which he assented, and we both took the cars together.
At the depot I met with an old acquaintance from Arkansas, from whom I learned that three of my old bear-hunting comrades, by the names of Samuel Teel, Henry Thomas, and Lemuel McIntosh, were in the 10th Arkansas Infantry, and that the regiment was at Edwards' Station, four miles from Black River. I knew that Teel had been a regular cane-brake ranger, and I concluded that, if I could find him, I could contrive some way to get safely to Black River bridge.
On our way down, General Wheeler told me that President Davis was to be at Jackson, and that his business down there was to see the President. The idea of seeing Jeff. Davis pleased me. I told the General that I was glad to hear that the President was to be there, for I had never been so fortunate as to have met him, and that I should be very happy to make his acquaintance. He promised that if an opportunity occurred, he would give me an introduction.